Gone With The Wind
by KSA Key-chan
Summary: Because there's nothing better than having someone remove the chains of guilt that kept your heart from being free. Rated T for language


**Hmm…I have too many things going on for me to be able to focus on all of them…That sucks. But this one ****was "Top-Priority".**

**Happy Birthday Chu!** ^_~

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Aoko hated herself. She really did. She would never be able to look Kaito in the eye again, she was sure of it.

Two months ago she had learned that her best friend- childhood friend- first and only crush, hell he was her everything- that the man she loved most also turned out to be the one she hated most. Kuroba Kaito was the true Kaitou KID. She had figured it out after a horrible dive-crash-landing where he ended up stuck in the branches of the tree beside her house after getting shot in the gut. Her aside, no one had seen him as the phantom thief right then- she had done her best attempting to change his shirt and pants, hiding his KID-gear somewhere nobody would find unless they were looking for it before calling up an ambulance and dragging Kaito to the sidewalk to make it look like he had been caught up in a shoot-out between two rivaling gangs. She was glad no one asked for more specific details, she wouldn't have been able to come up with a full cover story. She didn't tell her father about Kaito being KID- she just kept it a secret between the two of them. When she had gone to visit him the next day, he had been talking to Jii with an embarrassed smile until he spotted her standing by the door, that thing he called Poker Face right up and- nothing. Just blank. She didn't go in and talk to him. She didn't even scream at him, it hurt too much for that. Instead, she just walked away, without a word. She never went back. She never answered his calls. She never opened the messages he sent. She pretended she wasn't there when he rang at her doorbell.

She hated herself.

She should've let him talk to her the first time he'd tried. She should have listened to what he had to say because, really, this was_ Kaito_ we were talking about. Of course she hated KID, of course she hated what that person had done, but it was _because_ it was Kaito that it wasn't the same thing. She knew for a fact that Kaito wouldn't do a such thing if he didn't have a good reason. There were times she felt like Kaito was a stranger, unable to guess his thoughts or his feelings- but she couldn't help but be so horribly sure he didn't take up the role of KID for nothing. After giving it some thought, she had somewhat figured out why: Kaito wanted to find the people who made the first KID disappear in the first place- his father. If the first KID hadn't been Kaito's father, Kaito wouldn't have any mantle to pick up in the first place. And if he had really died in an accident…Kaito wouldn't have bothered to dive into such a dangerous task. But after that only came more questions: why had Toichi been KID? Why had he been murdered? If the people who had shot Kaito that night were the murderers, what was Kaito trying to do now? (Because let's face it: there was more behind all of this than just finding Toichi's murderers, otherwise KID would have ceased to exist a while back, her father kept muttering things about snipers at KID's heists when he got back.) And then there was another thing she didn't understand…

Why had Kaito never told her about all this?

Was it because she was the daughter of a police inspector? Was it because he didn't trust her? Was it because he was scared of her reaction when he told her? Was it because he simply thought she wouldn't understand? Because, seriously, she was not stupid enough to not understand a good reason for doing certain things. Of course she was a bit childish to think the world was black and white, she could admit that, but Kaito was just a big, fat, overwhelming blotch of some other bright color that completely ruined the painting. In a good way. But that didn't mean she understood why Kaito decided not to tell her. It made her feel like she wasn't a good-enough friend for her to be told something so deep and secret.

Kaito hadn't told her what was wrong, he had gone to school every day ranting on about KID while she went into anti-KID mode saying what a horrible person he was and most likely just stabbing him deeper in the wound every. Damn. Time. And he didn't say a fucking word. He just sat there, staring at her with a big stupid grin while she went on and hurt him even more.

She had hurt him so much, and now she was so scared to see him she couldn't even go and give him the comfort he was so badly asking for.

She felt horribly guilty and hated herself so damn much.

That's why she was here, in the chill of the night, sitting on a bench fiddling her thumbs in front of the Clock Tower where she had met Kaito for the first time. She smiled softly at the memory of them, just a pair of little kids, and how he had made a rose appear out of nowhere…

"_I'm Kuroba Kaito!_"

"Down much?"

Aoko jumped and straightened in surprise before looking to the ground. She was too scared to turn around. But she didn't need to look to know he was standing there, hands in pockets. Though she did wonder how he was dressed, because he had spoken using KID's voice rather than Kaito's.

"You look like you could use someone to talk to."

Even now…even now, he was the one comforting her. It should have been the other way around.

"I'm a horrible person." she croaked. "I should have been there for you. I wasn't."

"How does that make you horrible?"

"You're supposed to be my best friend! And I have been stubbornly refusing to talk to you for the past two damn months."

"Well, we're still more than just friends, right?"

"I hurt you."

Silence ensued. And stayed for what seemed to be a horribly long time.

"Aoko-"

"I hurt you and didn't know it, and when I realized I did I didn't even attempt to make it up to you. You didn't trust me enough to tell me you were KID. No wonder, with all the stuff I said. I'm a horrible friend."

"If you were that horrible I wouldn't consider you as my friend in the first place."

She felt her heart clench.

"Aoko…we've been friends as far as I can remember. If something is wrong, you're the first person I'd tell. And most of the time the only one. If it's something I can't say even to you, then I can't say it to anyone. Jii knew about me being KID because he's the one who told me about him being murdered in the first place. I never told Kaa-san, maybe she knows maybe she doesn't, but if she does she never said anything about it. Hakuba guessed, but he doesn't have proof. Akako knows because she's a witch. Some know, but I never told them. And if I couldn't tell you, it's because…because I thought it would hurt you."

Aoko gritted her teeth and clenched her fists resting on her knees in a desperate attempt to not let the tears fall. She could feel her eyes stinging in the cold of the night.

She stood up and slowly turned around to look at him. To finally see him after two long, lonely months. To see her best friend- childhood friend- first and only crush, her everything- the man she loved and never hated. His face was hidden by the cap pulled down over his eyes.

"You shouldn't have been so scared of telling me…" she whispered. "It's my fault. I'm sorry."

"You have been forgiven long ago, Aoko."

The silent, dark world she stood in became blurry as she flung herself in Kaito's arms and started to sob. She almost wanted to start cursing at him.

With just a few words, he made everything go away. All her guilt, all the horrible thoughts that just kept piling up over two months because she couldn't share her worries with him, they were just gone with the wind.

He was the one who had set her free.

Just as it has always been him.

"Besides," Kaito said with a small laugh "I'm the one who should be asking for forgiveness, shouldn't I?"

"Why would that be?"

"Well…first of all for having not told you from the start, as you so generously pointed out- and secondly…because I can't put the monocle away yet."

Aoko smiled. "You have been forgiven long ago, Kaito." she murmured in his ear.

"Damn you…" he whispered with a low chuckle, as he hugged her tighter and they made to both cry in each others arms. None of them knew how long they stood there, but when they finally loosened their grip they proceeded to exchange a wet and rather salty kiss under the Clock Tower who had watched their life and love flourish and go by since the day they met.

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**I dunno if they're a little OOC, but if they are I very seriously don't care. I think this is cute e****nough for that to be overlooked XD**


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